KitchenAid Artisan Series 5 Quart Tilt Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield KSM150PS, Metallic Chrome

I just bought as a wedding gift for my young friend. She and her new husband are comingling their kitchens and this is the must have item to bring the new kitchen up to chef's standards. I have owned an Artisan since 2003. It gets regular use, for everything from whipped cream to semolina pasta dough (very stiff dough). It has never misbehaved and never let me down. The finish is still as shiny and unmarred as the day I bought it. The bowl and beaters are still solid, although the spatula beater and dough hook are a little dull. Here are some of my observations after using my stand mixer for 14 years. 1.The head will move a little bit with stiff dough. If it jumps a lot read the owners manual and make the necessary adjustments (to make sure the beater is at the correct level in the bowl). Very stiff dough will cause a little movement. That's why there is a lock on the head. 2.The only issue I have had with the mixer moving slightly with very stiff dough is the entire mixer slowly walking across my counter. This was worse on my previous porcelain tile counters but it does not move as much on my granite slab counters, maybe an inch over several minutes. In any case, if you are running the mixer for 10 minutes on a stiff bread dough, keep an eye on it. 3.The motor head will heat up with hard dough, high speed, or a long running time. This has never posed a problem. 4. The mixing bowl, when new, will need a good scrubbing to remove the factory polish material. Other posters here suggest salt or baking soda. I don't remember using anything other than dish soap and a scrubby pad and I have never had grey dough. 5. I have a few of the attachments. They are pricey and may or may not be worth the money (especially the roto cheese grater). I use the meat grinder the most. It grinds partially frozen cuts just fine. I ground up about 30 lbs of turkey very easily last winter, it just took a little time.The sausage stuffer is useful, especially since you can adjust the speed to your comfort level. The pasta extruder is pretty nifty. I can't think of a stand-alone appliance that is better for that (I used to have an stand-alone machine that mixed and extruded pasta but it took up a lot of counter acreage and it broke after about 10 uses). However, I don't think I would replace my crank pasta roller/cutter with the attachment, since it is so expensive and the manual crank one is easy to use.

35 years ago I got the larger KitchenAid to use in bread making and grinding flour, the one that cranks the bowl up. It was impressive in both power and construction but alas it now belongs to someone else. This is the little brother (325 watt vs 575 watt motor). It was also purchased for use in bread making and grinding flour. It has a couple of advantages over its big brother: (1) it fits on the counter under the cupboards and (2) the tilt head makes getting the mixing bowl in and out easier than was the case with the larger KitchenAid mixer. While the construction of this unit seems to be as good as the old one the assembly left a bit to be desired. The ring around the drive for the beaters was not properly seated (easily fixed) and the label band was not properly seated at the back where it is screwed to the housing, which took a little more work to fix properly. Finally, the slot for the anti-twist pin that all attachments have needed to be radiused on the bottom, the casting had excess material that prevented the pins from seating properly and needed to be cut away. Not too much work to fix. Otherwise it arrived in perfect condition. The mixing beaters work fine for mixing dry or sloppy ingredients. The dough hook works fine for a standard loaf of bread dough, not sure how it will do with dough for two loaves. The splatter shield leaves a lot to be desired. It does not attach to the bowl firmly, it is a bit warped so it does not sit down properly all the way around, and it needs to be held in place by hand. It isn't really needed if the speed is started slow and not raised too much while mixing ingredients. This part has been squirreled away in a dark place as a useless piece of equipment. To grind flour I purchased a Mockmill which attaches to the KitchenAid as if it were OEM equipment, an item I'll review once it has been used a few times. The Mockmill, as advertised, is shown attached to this KitchenAid model so I'm sure it has more than enough power to grind flour with this mill. My take on all those broken beaters mentioned in other reviews is that they were used to mix ingredients that were either too viscous for that beater or the speed was set too high. That said I'm not impressed with the dough hook but the shape is right and it seems to have no trouble kneading enough dough for one loaf. Purchasing a backup may be a good idea. To avoid destroying the machine should something lock up the beater KitchenAid put one gear in the drive train that will break up so as not to damage the rest of the drive train. The replacement isn't too expensive so it is my recommendation that one backup replacement should be kept on hand to avoid putting the machine out of commission until the replacement part arrives. Probably overkill though.

Me encantó

Cannot say enough about this mixer. I bought one for myself and have had it for over 6 years, and bought this for my sister for her wedding. Easy to clean, long-lasting and works great. Has turned my sister into a baker, when she barely could manage Kraft Dinner before. Highly recommend buying a second bowl and spatula, as it is easier to make large quantities, or even make cupcakes and frosting in a quick bowl replacement.

If you do any baking at all, this mixer will make your life easier. I've used mine to mix everything from muffins, mashed potatoes, bread, cookies, whipping egg whites, etc. It works fast and efficiently.

Have had it about 8 months, use it frequently, no trouble with it at all and it makes baking an absolute breeze! I used to wish I was one of those mums who bakes great stuff with her kids, and now I am! I have not used any additional accessories , so I cannot comment on those, but for the mixer itself and the components it comes with, its wonderful! tip: go ahead and just put all the ingredients in your mixer, you dont need separate bowls or different steps! Just add the ingredients in the same order listed in the recipe (cream the butter and sugar before adding the rest) and your cakes and cookies will turn out great.

Ca fait des années que je l'utilise. Le jour où il meurt j'en rachete un. Une fois qu'on y a pris goût il est impossible de s'en passer. Je fais des gâteaux, du pain, des cremes glacées, j'ai un accessoires pour râper le fromage (pratique quand je râpe 2 kilo de fromage en 1 fois), blanc en neige, crème chantilly...